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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27199658">Look At My Skirt, It Has Pockets!</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/halcyon_autumn/pseuds/halcyon_autumn'>halcyon_autumn</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>College Party Extended Universe [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drunk Annette, F/M, M/M, Meet-Cute, Minor Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Claude von Riegan, Minor Mercedes von Martritz/Dedue Molinaro, They're like 19 though, Underage Drinking</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 17:27:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,748</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27199658</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/halcyon_autumn/pseuds/halcyon_autumn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The first five minutes of the party were only mildly terrible as Sylvain introduced him to the host, Claude von Riegan. Apparently they were both business majors, which made even Dimitri look wary; Sylvain was at peak douchebag around other Business majors. The sixth minute was in fact good, because Claude mentioned that his aunt had a cat and Felix immediately left to find and pet it. The eighth minute was when things went to shit, because someone who was not one of Felix’s three friends tried to talk to him. </p><p>“Felix. Feeeeeelix. Felix hi!”</p><p>Felix turned to see Annette Dominic.</p><p> </p><p>Felix doesn't want to be at Claude von Riegan's dumb party, but a very enthusaiastic, very drunk redhead is about to improve his night.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Annette Fantine Dominic/Felix Hugo Fraldarius</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>College Party Extended Universe [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2086629</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>114</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Look At My Skirt, It Has Pockets!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Felix decided exactly eight minutes into the party that he was going to kill Sylvain. This was not the first time he’d made this decision. The first time, they’d been five years old and Sylvain had called him short. Last week, he’d considered murder because Sylvain had thrown an impromptu party in their little dorm without asking him (probably because he knew Felix would have said no). He’d walked up the hill to the dorms, exhausted from a late night study session, and found strangers spilling out of their room. He’d had to go spend the night on Ingrid’s floor, and her weird roommate Dorothea insisted on asking him personal questions like “what’s your major?” and “where are you from?” Absolutely infuriating. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But this time he was really going to kill Sylvain, and maybe Ingrid too, and then Dimitri just to be thorough. Sylvain tried to drag him to every party on or off campus, but this time Ingrid had, horror of horrors, agreed with him. “Felix, you need to at least try to socialize with people,” she’d told him three days ago.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No I don’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes you do.” Ingrid had gotten that look on her face, the one where she had a lecture prepared and would be delivering it come hell or high water. “You study, you work out, and you sulk in your room.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I live with Sylvain. You would sulk too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ingrid had folded her arms. “Exactly why you need to meet more people! Even Dimitri is going, and he barely leaves the library.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And that should have been the end of it, but Ingrid was stubborn and Sylvain was annoying, so they’d both brought it at every opportunity. Even Dimitri texted to say he wished Felix would come. Eventually he’d given in because he’d thought, stupidly, that a few hours at a party would be worth it to shut them all up. So the four of them had piled into Sylvain's oversized SUV and driven off campus, to some rich kid’s aunt’s place up on the face of the mountain. Apparently Sylvain knew this kid from a poli sci class, or maybe they’d met at another party, or both two timed the same girl. Felix couldn’t keep track of all the people Sylvain met, the fucking extrovert.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The house was big, Felix thought as Sylvain parked. It was the sort of fancy house that looked like it was made of cut stones, with wide windows and an arched entryway. Ingrid looked impressed, so the whole thing was probably expensive.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The first five minutes of the party were only mildly terrible as Sylvain introduced him to the host, Claude von Riegan. Apparently they were both business majors, which made even Dimitri look wary; Sylvain was at peak douchebag around other Business majors. The sixth minute was in fact good, because Claude mentioned that his aunt had a cat and Felix immediately left to find and pet it. The eighth minute was when things went to shit, because someone who was not one of Felix’s three friends tried to talk to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Felix. Feeeeeelix. Felix hi!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix turned to see Annette Dominic, who was simultaneously one of the shortest and most intense people he had ever met. They shared a Gen Ed biology class and had been assigned to the same group project earlier in the year. Felix was pretty sure she was a double major in two things that made no sense, like Civil Engineering and Anthropology. “Hello Annette,” he said stiffly. Now he was going to have to make awkward conversation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annette beamed up at him as though they were close personal friends. “Felix hello! Did you do the biology reading yet?” She leaned forward, suddenly right in Felix’s personal space. “I’m going to tell you a secret. It’s really boring.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is it?” he asked. She’d never spoken to him like this in any of their group meetings or the few times they’d sat together in class. The most interaction they’d had was calling him a “fiend” because he’d taken the seat she wanted. But as Annette leaned closer, he caught the scent of beer on her breath. Drunkenness explained….pretty  much everything happening right now. “Well, that sucks.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I couldn’t even make it to the end of the chapter,” she told him. “I should have stayed home and finished it, but I didn’t want to. Mercie convinced me to come to this party instead. It’s my first college party, and I wanted to look pretty.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix was unprepared for this relentless avalanche of cheerfulness. She did look pretty though, with a royal blue skirt that hit her knees and some kind of cream shirt or blouse or whatever. “You look very nice,” he said, then winced. Was that too formal? Should he have said something else? Annette’s expression suddenly became very focused, and Felix panicked. “Sorry, I -”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Felix,” Annette whispered. “Felix look.” She tucked her hands into her skirt. “Look! My skirt has pockets.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He blinked. “Uh. Good.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It seemed this was not enough, because Annette seized his hands and forcibly shoved them into said skirt pockets. “See!” She told him brightly. “They’re huge! I could put a calculator in there.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix tried to ignore the blush burning his cheeks. They were standing very close together, and if he flexed his hands he’d probably be touching her thighs through the fabric of her skirt. “Couldn’t you just use your phone?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annette ignored this. “A whole graphing calculator,” she said with delight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I mean,” Felix began, “I can also probably fit a graphing calculator in my pockets.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anette drew herself up to her full, unimpressive height and eyed his jeans with unrestrained rage. She </span>
  <em>
    <span>still </span>
  </em>
  <span>hadn’t released Felix’s hands. “Why are your pockets so big, you bastard?” She asked. “What do you keep in there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He nearly laughed. Both Dimitri and Sylvain swung between giddy and morose when they were drunk. Ingrid, on the other hand, had gotten drunk exactly once. It had only made her more intense and, unfortunately for the poor soul playing beer pong with her, more competitive. Annette’s drunken rage was a little bit endearing, even if she was demanding. “Uh, I keep my wallet in there. My cellphone. A knife. Car k-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annette cut him off. “A knife?” she demanded. “Let me see it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even Felix had the sense not to whip a knife out at a party. “I mostly just have it for emergencies,” he said, trying to tug his hands out of her grasp. Her grip was surprisingly strong for someone so tiny. “It’s pretty small. They taught us shit like that in boy scouts before I got kicked out.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dimitri had done the whole thing and managed to become a damn Eagle Scout, but Felix’s scout leader had said Felix was “difficult” and “intimidating to the other boys.” Was that weird? It had never bothered him before, but maybe he shouldn’t be telling Annette about what a bratty eleven year old he’d been.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luckily, Annette was too fixated on the idea of a knife to care. “I could put a knife in my pockets,” she told him, sounding for all the world like she’d just solved world hunger. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, you guys doing alright over there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix turned, his hands </span>
  <em>
    <span>still</span>
  </em>
  <span> in Annette’s pockets, to see Claude standing in the doorway, eyeing him and Annette. Dimitri stood behind Claude, looking politely confused. It suddenly occurred to Felix how strange it must look to see him standing in the hallway, leaning forward over Annette, with his hands in her skirt pockets. “This is not what it looks like,” he told them, not entirely sure what it </span>
  <em>
    <span>did</span>
  </em>
  <span> look like.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then Sylvain and Ingrid appeared behind Dimitri and Claude, and Felix would have face palmed if Annette wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>still holding his hands.</span>
  </em>
  <span> “Hello,” Sylvain said, eyeing this strange tableau. “Felix, you seem to have made a friend.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was showing Felix my pockets,” Annette said brightly, and Felix could see that Sylvain was trying to figure out if that could possibly be a double entendre. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix scowled at nobody in particular. “Annette, please let go of my hands.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annette cheerfully said “okay” and released his hands in the same moment Ingrid muttered “did I just hear Felix say the word ‘please?’”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everyone stared awkwardly except for Annette, whose drunkenness made her immune to social awkwardness, and Claude, who seemed to be thriving on everyone’s discomfort. After a few  moments, Annette looked around and said “oh I should show Mercie my pockets.” She grabbed Felix’s arm. “Help me find Mercie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who?” Felix asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annette yanked on his arm to convey her urgency. “Mercedes von Matritz. She’s my best friend in the whole wide world and she’s</span>
  <em>
    <span> beautiful</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” Annette smiled, then poked a finger into Felix’s chin. “But you can’t hit on her because you’re a villain.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He could almost feel the delight radiating off of Sylvain. “You’re right, strange redhead,” Sylvain said cheerfully. “Felix </span>
  <em>
    <span>is </span>
  </em>
  <span>a villain.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut up,” Felix hissed. He couldn’t quite tell, but it looked like Claude and Dimitri were both holding back laughter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” Annette said to Sylvain, eyes widening. “He stole my seat in biology once.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Absolutely criminal,” Claude said, raising his hand to his mouth in mock horror. Felix flipped him off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ingrid spoke up, either to take pity on Felix or, more likely, because she loved to take control of a situation. “We can’t let her wander around the party when she’s this drunk. We need to find her friend.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am not drunk,” Annette said, a bit drunkenly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix cleared his throat. “I’ll keep an eye on her and help her find her friend.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Five pairs of eyes turned towards him. Felix, now blushing like some sort of idiot, tried to ignore them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dimitri smiled. “That’s very nice of you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.” Sylvain was grinning like his birthday had come early. “Incredibly nice.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He needed new friends, especially once he finished murdering all his current ones. “Come on,” he muttered to Annette, giving her a gentle tug. Annette must have forgiven him for stealing her seat once, because she followed him into the next room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Claude’s college party wasn’t that different from the handful of high school parties Sylvain had dragged him to, except the alcohol seemed slightly fancier. Top 40s still hits blared, and strangers spilled out of every room, talking and laughing and occasionally sneaking off to more private parts of the house. He held onto Annette, worried she’d be swept away by the currents of the crowd. For her part, Annette was mouthing something to herself. As he listened closely,  he realized she was singing along to the pop song playing - but every time the word “girl” was said in the song, Annette changed it to squirrel. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It did kind of improve the lyrics, if he was honest with himself. Made them more interesting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” he said once they stopped in the living room. “What does Mercie look like?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pretty,” Annette said, which was not helpful. “Um, she’s a nursing student.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What does she</span>
  <em>
    <span> look</span>
  </em>
  <span> like?” Felix repeated more slowly, as if speaking slow enough could penetrate the alcoholic fog of Annette’s brain. She was the one who’d wanted to find Mercie in the first place. “We need to find her.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Annette said with wide eyes. “I can find her.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before Felix could stop her, she hopped onto a nearby chair and bellowed “MERCEDES.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everyone in the room turned to stare at them. Felix considered abandoning Annette, but instead grit his teeth and glared until everyone went back to their conversations. Then he turned to Annette. “Please get off the chair and stop yelling.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annette didn’t seem to hear him. She was scanning the crowd with the intense scrutiny normally reserved for doctors in the middle of brain surgery. Then, abruptly, she either tripped or flung herself off the chair. He dove to catch her. “Felix. Felix she’s not </span>
  <em>
    <span>here</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s probably in another room,” Felix said, but Annette didn’t seem comforted by this. He reached out and stiffly patted her on the shoulder. “Uh, it’s alright. We’ll find her.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“People leave sometimes,” Annette said as Felix led her into the next room. He tried to keep her away from any other chairs in case it gave her ideas. “My dad left too, but Mercedes is nicer than my dad.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean your dad left?” Felix asked, scanning the room. What did a nursing student look like, anyway?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He walked out on me and my mom.” Annette’s voice had gone quiet, her joyfulness extinguished. “I heard something about him maybe teaching here, but I haven’t been able to find him. I’ve been looking really hard.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix turned to meet Annette’s eyes. Your dad is an asshole,” he said fiercely. “If he left you, that’s his loss.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For a moment, Annette’s face went completely blank. Felix’s heart leapt into his throat. Had he upset her? He was trying to be comforting, which he knew he wasn’t good at. But damn, he’d </span>
  <em>
    <span>tried. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Was she going to cry? Had he hurt her that much?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annette flung her arms around Felix and dragged him down into a hug. “You’re nice. I’m sorry I called you a villain.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annette wasn’t letting go of him. Slowly, he brought his arms up and returned the hug because he couldn’t think of what else to do. “You also called me a bastard for having big pockets,” he pointed out. Annette was just short enough that she could tuck her head under his chin, and something about that made his heart pound. Could she feel it through his chest?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annette drew back to look him dead in the eye. “I’m not sorry about that. They’re too big, Felix. It’s suspicious.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix glanced away, ignoring the burning in his cheeks. Everytime she said his name, his chest went warm. “Sorry about my suspicious pockets. I’ll try to uh, make them more trustworthy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This must have been sufficient, because Annette nodded very seriously. She didn’t hug him again, but she took his hand in hers and swung them vigorously as they made their way through the room. They must have looked like a pair of cartoon characters about to go skipping through a field, but Felix couldn’t bring himself to jerk his hand away. It made Annette so happy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They eventually found Mercedes outside against a tree. She was expertly making out with Dedue Molinaro, who Felix vaguely recognized as one of Dimitri’s gym buddies. Neither of them seemed even slightly embarrassed that Felix and Annette had found Mercedes with her legs around Dedue’s waist and their tongues down each other throats. Dedue even managed a dignified nod of recognition at Felix as Mercedes slid off him and cried “oh Annie!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We found you!” Annette yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You told me you weren’t going to drink,” Mercedes said. “I thought you were going to stick with Caspar and Lin for the party. Have you just been wandering around alone?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Changed my mind,” Annette said. “And they were kind of boring, and then I saw Felix and wanted to talk to him.” She leaned closed to Mercedes as if she was going to whisper a secret, but her voice still carried. “He’s a bastard.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh?” Mercedes asked. Her expression didn’t change, but something in her tone suggested that she’d already decided where she was going to hide Felix’s body after she killed him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She was upset that I had bigger pockets than her,” Felix explained quickly. “That’s all.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep.” Annette tugged on Mercedes’ sleeve. “Why are men’s pockets bigger? It isn’t fair.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not fair at alll,” Mercedes agreed. She turned to Felix, and he was relieved that her smile no longer seemed faintly murderous. “Thank you for looking out for her. I think Dedue and I had better take her home. She’s going to have her first hangover tomorrow.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix made a non-commital noise. Annette seemed to have forgotten his existence and was enthusiastically telling Dedue about some tv show she was binging on Netflix. Felix wanted to say something to draw her attention back to him, but his mind went blank.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know,” Mercedes said, “if you give me your phone number, I can text you to let you know she’s alright tomorrow.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why would I do that?” Felix asked, still eyeing Annette. Should he say goodnight to her, maybe? Would that be alright?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mercedes smiled. “Oh, because you think she’s pretty and you’ve spent your night making sure she’s safe. I imagine you’ll want to ask her out at some point. And once I’ve had time to make sure you’re not a serial killer, you can ask me for her phone number. ”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix could feel his ears burning. “Yeah, alright,” he muttered, both grateful and resentful as he typed his number into Mercedes’ phone. “Um, Annette? Goodnight.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annette turned away from Dedue and pinned him with her bright blue eyes. “Goodnight Felix!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He watched the three of them leave, Dedue with his arm over Mercedes’ shoulders, Annette walking beside them and once or twice tripping over her own feet while she told them about the party. Then he turned and made his way back into the party.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The moment Felix set foot in the house, Sylvain actually broke off a conversation with a girl and made a beeline for him. “Fe, who was that stunning young woman that you were </span>
  <em>
    <span>very </span>
  </em>
  <span>close to?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix scowled, which did nothing to dampen Sylvain’s excitement. “She’s in my biology class. I was just helping her find her friend.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That made it worse. Sylvain grinned, looking like a cat who’d spotted a mouse. “Oh? I don’t usually get that handsy with my biology partners.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, you do,” Felix said. “Several of them. One threw a book at you in the hallway our Junior year because you cheated on her.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She was my chemistry partner, actually,” Sylvain said, enthusiasm undamped. “And don’t change the subject. You had your hands down her skirt.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not you,” Felix muttered. “She was excited that her skirt had pockets. Will you just drop it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He could tell that Sylvain was not going to drop it, and was just warming up, when a green-haired girl walked through the door and a look of genuine fear crossed Sylvain’s face. “Oh, we gotta go.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Someone you slept with?” Felix asked as Sylvain pressed himself against the wall and tried to make his way to the door, ducking behind the occasional piece of furniture. He was too tall to really blend in, so it was like watching a great dane try to hide behind a fire hydrant.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nope,” Sylvain said, bending his knees slightly so he wouldn’t seem as tall. It didn’t work. “She’s my TA for Business Accounting, and I asked for an extension on my paper because I’m sick this weekend.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re not sick though.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Always quick on the uptake, aren’t you Felix?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They actually hid in the bushes out front, like they were sixteen again and they’d just toilet papered someone’s house. Sylvain texted the rest of their friends that they had to leave while Felix scowled at him. At least Annette wasn’t here to see this. They looked like idiots.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ingrid came out with her arms folded and a frown on her face. Dimitri came out next, followed by Claude who was grinning at Dimitri. “We’ll have to finish that conversation about Neoclassical art some other time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dimitri blushed. “I - so sorry, I just get carried away sometimes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not a problem.” Claude winked at Dimitri and waved at them all before disappearing back into the party. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sylvain’s eyebrows twitched upwards. “Did you actually spend twenty minutes telling Claude about your nerdy art stuff because you think that’s what counts as flirting?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” Dimitri said primly. His cheeks were pink.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sylvain looked as if he might actually be praying for patience. “Let’s get out of here, and I’ll teach you how to flirt tomorrow.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, thank you,” Dimitri said firmly as they headed towards the car.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ingrid called shotgun, so Dimitri and Felix squeezed into the back. He stared out the window as Dimitri and Ingrid tried to convince Sylvain that lying to his TA was a terrible idea. Eventually, their voices faded into a hum as Felix wondered whether Annette had gotten home already. Would it be weird to text Mercedes and just check to make sure Annette was alright? Probably. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sylvain don’t you </span>
  <em>
    <span>dare</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Ingrid hissed as the radio played a few chords of banjo music. Sylvain was the only one out of the four of them who liked country music, and he was happy to wield that as a weapon. Ingrid tried valiantly to change the station, but Sylvain slapped her hand away. All three of them groaned as they heard Kenny Chesney start to sing,  Sylvain joining in an off-key but enthusiastic duet. Whenever he got tired of their lectures, country music was always his preferred choice of vengeance.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix woke the next morning to Sylvain swearing as he typed out an email. It seemed his TA </span>
  <em>
    <span>had </span>
  </em>
  <span>noticed him at the party last night and had emailed him a congratulations for his quick recovery. She’d also told him his paper would now be docked 10% for being turned in late. Felix rolled his eyes, told Sylvain it was his own fault, and felt around for his cell phone to check his own messages.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was one alert on his phone. Felix opened it, hoping Mercedes would confirm Annette was fine, but instead saw an unknown number.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>555-1957: Hi Felix! This is Annette from last night. I got your number from Mercie’s phone. I’m so sorry that I yelled at you last night.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>555-1957: And called you a bastard.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>555-1957: And tried to steal your knife.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Felix?” Sylvain was looking up from his phone, eyes narrowed. “Are you smiling?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” Felix said as he started to type a reply. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix: actually, hanging out with you was still more fun than watching my roommate hit on every girl he saw</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annette didn’t seem to hate him. She actually wanted to talk to him more. Maybe, if this conversation went well, he could try to ask her out. Somewhere casual, like a cafe or wherever it was people went on dates.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re </span>
  <em>
    <span>definitely </span>
  </em>
  <span>smiling, Fe. Stay still, I’m going to take a picture as proof.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix hauled his sheet over his head so Sylvain couldn’t see his grin as waited for Annette to respond. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Judith, when she gets home, finds out Claude threw a party, AND that he's been telling people that she's his aunt: BOY WHAT HAVE YOU DONE.</p><p>Much thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/saccharinesylph">saccharinesylph</a>  on twitter for reading over this several times and giving her thoughts, suggesting dialogue, and for making the joke about Judith first. </p><p>Follow me on <a href="https://twitter.com/halcyon_autumn">twitter</a> for more Fire Emblem thoughts.</p><p>Now has a squel: <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28486347">New Year's Day</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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